Christmas and the Christmas holidays can be
a time of hope, a time for family and a time of new beginnings. However, for LGBT+ people, Christmas and the
Christmas holidays can be a time of loneliness, rejection and worry. What can we do if we do not have loving
families with whom to spend Christmas and the holiday season?
It has been said that as LGBT people, we
make our own families. Many of us have
good friends we can call upon, spend Christmas Day with, or even the whole
holiday season. However, if this is not
possible, we must look for alternative ways to spend Christmas Day and the days
around it.
Some of us can gain extra hours at work
over Christmas. Employers often give the
main celebration days such as Christmas Day and Boxing Day as vacation days to
people who have children, and that means these days can be ours for the taking,
along with the higher rates of pay given for working these days. Working Christmas can be fun – I’ve worked
many Christmases. There is often less
work and more of a relaxed atmosphere over the Christmas period, as well as
boxes of chocolates and biscuits for the staff to munch through.
In most towns and cities, there are free
meals offered to people who will spend Christmas alone. Some of these meals are attended by people
who have drink or drug problems and are resident in the local homeless person’s
hostel. If this is not your thing, see
if your local LGBT services are offering a Christmas meal or get-togethers over
the holiday period. Socialising network
sites such as Meetup.com have groups in most towns and cities and most of these
groups will have socialising events during the holiday period.
You could spend the holidays volunteering,
perhaps at a homeless person’s shelter, or at an animal sanctuary. Christmas is often about giving as well as
receiving.
If you are Christian or simply wish to go
to church, most churches are open over the Christmas period for Carol singing
and Nativity services. In most towns and
cities, there are churches that welcome LGBT people, and some churches are
mainly LGBT. You can find LGBT churches
in your local area by a quick internet search.
However, you can also spend time on your own, thinking about your own
beliefs and how you wish to carry them out in the coming year.
The holidays can be used as a time to think
about yourself and what you wish to achieve in 2017. Think about what your hopes and dreams are
and how you can realize them or work towards them in 2017.
However, you spend this Christmas and
holiday time, make sure you take care of yourself. Happy Christmas and happy holidays.
Post written by Catherine Hume, check out her blog
Original photo from Unsplash
3 comments:
YES! This post is so important! I've never thought about how Christmas was for those in the LGBT community but for some I see it has to be really lonely! This is a time for family and coming together and to be happy so I hope that wherever you are in the world, that you stay happy and blessed this holiday season! <3
A timely reminder, indeed.
Well said. I think for some people holidays can be stressful as well as fun. And it's nice that there are other options out there, like mentioned here. I haven't worked on Christmas ever, but it does seem nice how there's a different atmosphere then.
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